Jones details his three-year strategic plan for Stockton

STOCKTON - Three years from now, Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones envisions a city with less blight, fewer violent crimes and far more police officers patrolling the streets.

Jason Anderson

STOCKTON - Three years from now, Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones envisions a city with less blight, fewer violent crimes and far more police officers patrolling the streets.

Jones laid out his vision for the future in a three-year strategic plan that was unveiled Thursday, a day after the Stockton Police Department released figures showing a 55 percent reduction in homicides in 2013.

"This gives us a blueprint of where the department is headed," Jones said. "It's very important that we always have a vision and a mission in front of us so we don't fall off the path of all the planning we've done. We've done a lot of work over the last two years, so it's important to roll that blueprint out to our staff and to the community so they know, up front, where we're headed as we move forward combating crime in Stockton."

The strategic plan includes strategies for rebuilding a department that experienced a 30 percent reduction in staff from 2008 to 2010. The city's crime rate subsequently soared, hitting historic highs of 58 homicides in 2011 and 71 in 2012, when Stockton ranked as the sixth most violent city in the nation, police said.

Voters approved a tax increase last week that will allow the Police Department to hire 120 more officers. Jones said one of his department's biggest challenges will be recruiting and training new police officers. His goal is to hire 40 each year for the next three years.

Jones outlined a number of new staffing objectives in the strategic plan. He said he wants to rebuild the department's narcotics investigation unit, add more detectives, expand community outreach efforts and improve call response times. The plan also calls for an increased police presence in parks and schools and the institutionalization of Operation Ceasefire, which was implemented in 2012 as part of the department's Homicide Reduction Plan.

Jones also stressed the importance of "The Four Ps," emphasizing partnerships with outside law enforcement agencies, prevention of crime, predictive models to target hot spots and the pursuit of criminal offenders with a highly visible police force.

"We have the foundation and the plan in place, and now we're on the right path to grow into it under the strategic plan," Jones said. "A lot of the hard work begins now. It's going to take time, and that's why we ask patience in the community and within our own department. This is a long-term strategy, and it will take some time to develop."